The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1887-02-17

IL, 1851.
now b - ssnooth - 1nor, ,:snd Just where the
paimeltoee are prettiesi and the groupa symmet-
ncai and tan-which happens 10 be Just where
soouid oe, about midway the site, viii come
doyr from the hotel, IN avenue ono hupdred
ieet widei this avenue viii give an entirely I'M.
0osfructed view 10 the CUR and ID fact way
out and ali over The waters lnvalids, who may
not care or feel able TO 60 down to the water of
the Cult, can remain In doors, as their hotel or
reaidence, and have . bewitching sea view oil
| the time.
ft'la" THE HOTEL sFrH
Turning east and you zee stretching along
from north to south high spruce pine ridge
This ridge b higher than anything else along
the coast at that locality, and from every APPEAR
ance, rises high above any kind Of water mark.
| THE rLAcEs TO GET TOUR "AoNeY BACK"
Adjacent to- this spruce ridge, lies . large
body q vesy high 6rst.class pine land. the tim
Der being very tall and large ior'th coast, and
the soil black and rich, something very seldom
found " the character and'eualsy Of pine lands
along the coast, particularly, 1t is certainly >
very valua6se body OF land, bo'h for its Ane
Still fpFther east, and adjoining this pine belt
comes . body Of ihafhmoce land. c6mpriss1g a
| we were informed, about I 300 acres. The
| growth is; cabbage palmetto and live oak, prin-
cipaiiy, the TALL big trees even from distance
giving unmislakable evidences Of great fertility
We went into portion of this hammock with
| Prof Graham and several other gentlemen, and
found the soil to be black, loose and friable suf-
fciently dry for cultivation at any season of the
year, and without doubt as rich as any land we
ever saw. No Illinois prairie was ever blacker
| and richer.
| oYsTE Rs AND FISH AND GAME
This hammock lies along the river and bay
| formed by Gordons Pass, In the waters of which
are to be found and seen 40 many fish
and oysters as can be found anywhere ON
| the coast. There are absolutely hundreds
| Of acres of oysters in this bay-splendid
single oysters and as finely favored, and as large
as any we ever saw from the famous beds of
skif boat with these delicious bvalves, without
getting out or moving his boat. Thousands of
bushels can be gathered from these unculled BEDS
The waters really seemed alive with ish-mul-
let, bass, trout and sheepshead. or the last
Gen. Williams who was the Isaak Walton of the
party, caught more while we were there than
the whole party, some twenty persons could eat
| We all had a feast OF Ash and oysters Wesaw, ,
| wherever we went into the woods, innumerable
signs of deer, turkeys and bear, but going as we
did, in parties of three, four and five, talking all
the while, we did not kill any The Indians.
however, had been more fortunate, hunting
party having been there few days before as,
and had been very successful. Mr. Weeks who
lives at Gordon's Pass, told us he could kill,
whenever he went, deer, turkeys and bear, and
sometimes panther. This place is the SPORTS
mans paradise in fact, land don't you forget
| it."
| 44 VEGETABLES AND TRUrrs. s,B
Right at Naples, Madison Weeks has been
| living Tor three years, and says that his expe-
rience is, that from eight hundred TO one thou
sand dollars can be made per acre on planting
| vegetables. That he has obtained such results
since his arrival, and he is now seoenty years DID,
| Three months in the year, he informed US, was
| about the whole of the time consumed In work.
ing, out of the twelve. AS a proof of his state
ments, he had growing, green and untouched by
| frost, four or five acres in cabbages, tomatoes,
turnips, and egg plants and dwarf bananas, hav-
ing at the time about one thousand punches of
fruit, in maturing state, as fine as ever grew.
He had several thousand of immense stocks,
green and fourshing. Weeks told the party
that he had made in one season twenty three
hundred dollars on vegetables, the labor Of him
self and two little boys, and referred 10 Mr.. VIM
Curry, of Key West. His land is rich, rich, rich,
and one Of our party 6llei box TO send to
friend. Weeks also told ns that the lands about
Naples would produce the finest vegetables he
ever saw. even better than at Chucko1uskee. and
that he bad raised cabbages weighing So pounds
usthout fertilizer, and from the samples we all
saw growing, we fully believed him. He fur
ther stated that the county about there was en-
tirely free from sickness, and from the appear
ance of his ruddy, hardy looking children, none
had any reason to doubt the fact.
INSECTS AND WATER
We were anchored for several nights against
mangrove swamp to be sheltered from the
wind, the very place too for mosquitoes, and
With the exception of one night, and then there
were not many, we did not feel half dozen
whole trip. and Weeks states as fact that there
are no more snakes or insects at Naples than he
saw Ia the interior of Manatee county. They
disappear, he says, as the people settle The coun-
try, and even In the summer, only short time,
in few OF the months. any trouble is caused on
told us he never looses a minutes work on ac-
count OF their being an annoyance.
The water right at the shore, Is not very good
IN the wells some times dug for convenience, but
just al the site of NAPLES in the famous Ancient
canal" and several other places, we got good,
sweet, cold, clear, water, and in the canal il was
very clear and cold, and was pronounced by all
hands rs splendid"
Just of little distance from the salt water.
there il no doubt but as good water Can be pro.
cured from wells as in the interior of Hanatee
county. The water, In this strange and curious
i" canal p" never dries up, but Is said to be very
cool even in summer.
MARCO AND GoODLAND POINT.
What We saw at these places only few miles
and soil.
When we reached Captain Golfers at big
Marco" his schooner was just about starting for
Key West, with cargo of vegetables, and he
told US he had been shipping thousands OF crates
for himself and others for six weeks past Cap
tain Billy Collier and his venerable lather, who
is now over 80 years of age, and as spry as boy,
courte0usly invited the party 10 their tasteful and
comfortable homes. and showed us all through
their acres Of vegetables and tropical fruits, cab
bages. egg plants, caulifower and tomatoesin the
greatest abundance and Is fine a. ever grew.
Cocoanuts by the acres growing In tropical luxu-
rance, unbiighted by cold, right In the very
salt water sf lhe bay, and appaEenty on - poor
land as one ever looked at. The Captain in
formed Us, however, that the mangrove islands,
where the tide waters overflow, are the best
places for cOcoanuts. His four year olds were
eight and ten feet high, while the twos were half
that. and all green and vigorous. His dwarf ba-
nanas were superb, immense buuches 10 be seen
almost touching the ground. = ~ -,
Your correspondent has seen alligator pears
aiee codnfy' SIT 1aVsr> riife 16oss at Captain Col
lierA They are simply grand and magnificent,
and In looking at their tall trunks, green and
spreading branches the eye Is dazzled with their
tropical Mxuriance. What a beautiful tropical
home What grand tropical growth and profn-
sion |! 81" t'iE
..ssFisel LAST But NOT LKAsT sfa "a.
We enter the Ten thousand IsAnda, and pass,
II. IL al